Challenge courses are structures that allow a person or team to challenge themselves by participating in various events such as walking along swinging ropes or planks, at elevated heights. These courses are also used to train military personnel. These courses are also used at recreational parks or other such centers that have go-carts and miniature golf.
Zip lines are generally ropes or cables that are connected at both ends to fixed members of varying heights. In other words, one end is higher than the other. A participant then, by use of a pulley that rotatably engages with the rope or cable, glides from the higher end to the lower end.
The present invention uses a fixed rigid member that is engaged with two wheels to allow the user to roll along the fixed rigid member in any number of directions and trajectories.
The invention uses a non-single point of failure member or cable slide or similarly functioning member that can be used in challenge courses, zip lines, and dual rail tracks to increase the safety by having a means to keep the safety cable attached to the glide, as opposed to a single weight bearing bolt.
Multiple embodiments of the system are disclosed herein. It will be understood that other objects and purposes of the invention, and variations thereof, will be apparent upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.
The challenge courses in the prior art usually have a single point of failure means extending downwardly from a moveable member within a track, whereby if this means, such as a bolt, fails, there is nothing securing the user relative to the track, or securing the user from possibly falling. Also, the member slide of the prior art do not have means for traversing on a dual rail track or system.
There exists a need for non-single point of failure member slide to increase safety for the users. There also exists the need to increase the safety while not decreasing the capacity of participants traversing back and forth from the challenge course, zip line, zip track, and a dual rail track.
The present invention is a zip line rail system that allows a user to move or displace from one location to another without effort on the user's part. This movement or displacement may be performed primarily by the force of gravity. However the present invention may also use a launch system to provide the impetus for the member slide to move. This differs from the prior art in that it may be integrally connected to a challenge course, and a zip line that uses cables or ropes, or it may be a stand-alone system.
The present invention also, rather than using cables or ropes, uses a fixed member, such as a rail, or beam or track along which the user is displaced via a glide or wheeled structure that glides or rolls on a rail, or within the beam or on a track.
There exists a need for a zip line rail system that enables a user to traverse from a challenge course or a zip track to the zip line rail system of the present invention in any particular order.
This allows the user to travel at higher speeds then a zip line using a rope or cable due to the sagging that must occur in the rope or cable zip line. The present invention also allows for safer and more expedient movement throughout the course because the user can stay engaged in the same glide structure or wheeled structure throughout the system. This system also allows the user to enter banked turns by offsetting the height of two adjacent rails.
There also exists the need to increase the safety while not decreasing the capacity of participants traversing the challenge course.
The present invention also uses a brake system to slow down the user using the member slide.
Multiple embodiments of the system are disclosed herein. It will be understood that other objects and purposes of the invention, and variations thereof, will be apparent upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.